by Bob Flaws

In Chinese medicine, there are only three basic causes of any and all uterine bleeding other than due to traumatic injury. These three are qi vacuity failing to manage or contain the blood, evil heat causing the blood to move frenetically outside its vessels, and blood stasis forcing the blood outside of its pathways. Gu Jing Wan (Secure the Menses Pill) is a famous formula created by Zhu Dan-xi for treating the second of these causes of pathological uterine bleeding -- evil heat. Zhu Dan-xi was one of the Four Great Masters of the Jin-Yuan dynasties, and this formula comes from his Dan Xi Xin Fa (Dan-xi's Heart Method). The ingredients in this formula include:

Gui Ban
Chi Shao
Huang Qin
Huang Bai
Xiang Fu
Chun Pi

In Chinese gynecology, when we talk about uterine bleeding, we mean any and all of the following: early menstruation, profuse menstruation, prolonged menstruation, mid-cycle bleeding, bleeding with intercourse, fetal leakage (threatened miscarriage), and flooding and leaking. Under heat causing frenetic movement of the blood outside its vessels, there are several subtypes which can cause uterine bleeding. These are:

Replete heat
Vacuity heat
Depressive heat
Stasis heat
Damp heat

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by Honora Lee Wolfe

Facebook just surpassed 400,000,000 users and counting. If it were a country, Facebook would be the third largest in the world! The next link in this thought chain is that Boomers (48-65 years old) are the fastest growing group of new users at Facebook and other social media sites, worldwide. The younger generations, Genexers and Millennials, are already there and have been for awhile; thus, new users in those age groups are growing at a slower pace than Boomer usage at this point.

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by Bob Flaws

Huang Qi Jian Zhong Tang (Astragalus Fortify the Center Decoction) comes from Zhang Zhong-jing's Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet/Casket) originally published in the late Han dynasty circa 200 CE. Huang Qi Jian Zhong Tang is basically Xiao Jian Zhong Tang (Minor Fortify the Center Decoction) plus Huang Qi. Its ingredients are:

Huang Qi
Yi Tang
Gui Zhi
Shao Yao
Zhi Gan Cao
Sheng Jiang
Da Zao

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By Eric Brand

Wan Dai Tang (Discharge-Ceasing Decoction) is one of the most important formulas for the treatment of abnormal vaginal discharge. Wan Dai Tang came from one of the most important historical texts on gynecology, a Qing dynasty text called Fu Qing-Zhu’s Gynecology (Fu Qing Zhu Nu Ke). Fu Qing-Zhu's Gynecology contains both theory and formulas, and is a particularly good source for discussions on vaginal discharge. The heavy emphasis on the role of the liver, spleen, and kidney in modern Chinese medical gynecology has been influenced by Fu Qing Zhu's work, and he also made major contributions to the development of qi/blood and chong/ren theory.

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by Bob Flaws

Shawn and Eric were recently telling me I should write a blog or two on some of the lesser known formulas I selected for the Great Nature line. So I thought I'd write about Gan Lu Yin (Sweet Dew Beverage) today. "Sweet dew" is the literal Chinese for ambrosia or amrita, a divine nectar conferring long life and good health. I first came across this formula in 1980 in Hong-yen Hsu's Commonly Used Chinese Herb Formulas with Illustrations, one of the first Chinese medical formula books available in English. "Back in the day," before the publication of Bensky & Barolet's first Formulas & Strategies book, I ratted through this book over and over and over again. Looking at that copy of Hsu's book today, my incessant flipping though that book is well-evidenced by all the packing tape holding it together. Since Hsu's book was short on text, and what there was was mainly written in the language of Western medicine, I learned how to use and appreciate the formulas in this book mainly by looking at and attempting to analyze their ingredients. Thus it was that I lighted upon Gan Lu Yin one day, letting out a mental "A-ha."

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